Washington, DC -- Equal Pay Today! – a non-partisan collaboration of organizations working to close the gender wage gap congratulates Representative DeLauro and Senator Murray and all original co-sponsors in the House and Senate on their reintroduction of the Paycheck Fairness Act.

Joi Chaney, Director of Equal Pay Today, a project of Equal Rights Advocates, released the following statement:

“Ten year’s ago this week, on January 29, I had the privilege of working in the Senate when the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 was signed by President Obama. Three years ago, Equal Pay Today was launched on the bill’s anniversary. The bill was critical to protecting the ability of pay discrimination victims to seek legal redress under Title VII, but it was only a first step toward stronger equal pay enforcement. The Paycheck Fairness Act is needed to take the next step of ensuring pay equity enforcement meets the needs of the modern workforce and addresses the challenges discovered or developed over the last half-century.

“These challenges include loopholes in Equal Pay Act of 1963 enforcement that have been used by slick employers to pay women and men unequally without penalty, lack of pay transparency and pay data collection, continued use of practices that perpetuate the wage gap, and remedies for victims of discrimination so limited they serve as little incentive for employers to voluntarily comply with the law. Many say they support equal pay, but it means nothing if you don’t have laws strong enough to enforce it. The Paycheck Fairness Act would strengthen our pay enforcement laws.

“As Ms. Ledbetter said recently, ‘Giving women my Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act without the Paycheck Fairness Act is like giving them a nail without the hammer.’ Working women need that hammer. We demand that Congress swiftly pass the Paycheck Fairness Act.”